Supergirl: Hellspawn
by DarkMark
Summary: Third of the Hellsister trilogy. In the 30th Century, Supergirl and the Legion must face Darkseid and the son of Satan Girl. The latter knows how his mother died. He wants to return the favor.
1. Chapter 1

Supergirl:

Hellspawn

by DarkMark

Part 1

NOTE: Characters in this story are property of DC Comics. No money is being made by this story, no infringement is intended.

-S-

Linda Danvers was about to go to bed, after she figured out what she was going to wear to the future this weekend.

She had on a Chicago Bears T-shirt and a pair of panties, her usual sleeping attire, and was barefoot, rummaging through the closet of her apartment. Nothing here wouldn't look antique. Nothing except the Supergirl outfit she wore most often there. But, Sheol, a girl got tired of the same old blue, red, and yellow all the time, and the man she loved deserved more changes of outfit than that.

Oh, well, she could depend on the Legion to supply her with some appropriate clothes. She could even get Computo to run up some outfits for her, based on her own input and designs. Once in awhile she'd worn a skin-tight number that it had produced, and Dev had appreciated it in more ways than one. Plus she got some appreciative stares on the street, and the best part of it was that, without the costume, nobody seemed to know she was Supergirl. Also, with the heating elements built into the suit, you could wear as little as you wanted all year round. Conversely, cooling elements in more modest suits would let you wear the longest cover-ups in the hottest days of summer. If only she could import that technology to the 20th Century. Dolce and Gabbana would hire her on the spot.

Nuts.

She considered one of her favorite outfits, a three-piece black and orange number. That just wouldn't work in the 30th. Luckily, any of her bikinis would. When she was alone with Dev, even that wouldn't be necessary.

The last couple of weekends he had spent with her in the 20th. Now, she'd have to pay him back by visiting the 30th, this weekend and next. It was a weird form of romance, to be certain. But Dev-Em, who had started out as an enemy of Superboy's before going to the future, going straight, and becoming a spy, had satisfied her as no other man ever had. Both in bed, and in her heart.

But what could she do with this romance?

Linda flopped down on the side of the bed, her black-and-orange suit still in hand. True, she loved Dev more than any man in her life. But neither one had offered to give up his or her time-era for the other, yet. Dev hadn't agreed to marriage yet, and she was reluctant to bring it up.

How could she leave the 20th, and her natural and adoptive parents?

How could he leave the 30th, with his espionage work for the United Planets and the Legion?

She sighed and massaged her temples. And to think that she'd used to wonder all the time why Kal didn't just go ahead and tell Lois he loved her, get married, and get the whole thing finished. Now he and Lois were married. Linda, on the other hand, had been sleeping for several months with Dev, and was no closer now to a ring then when they'd started.

But at least there was the love. Physical and emotional, there was that.

But if one of you doesn't budge, Kara, she thought, if one of you doesn't make a sacrifice for the other, and quit this bichronal relationship to live in the other's time...

(Say it, mind)

...there won't even be that. Maybe.

Linda dropped back on the bed, letting the three-piece suit go and kicking it away. Rao knew, she didn't want to lose him. Or her parents. But if she didn't want to lose everything, something was going to have to be lost.

But not this weekend. At least, not this weekend.

Dev was so hard to second-guess. All she was sure of was that he seemed to love her, too.

Tomorrow, she'd have to settle for that.

A well-aimed burst of super-breath turned off the light switch. Another one adjusted the thermostat. With that, Linda Danvers climbed into bed. The mental exercises a Kandorian psychiatrist had taught her would help her get to sleep. They had to.

Within half an hour, Linda Danvers, also known as Kara Zor-El, also known as Supergirl, was slumbering.

-K-

From another place, other eyes watched.

"You summoned me here for this?" said the one in the hat, suit, and gleaming medallion, watching an image of the sleeping Linda Danvers that was in more than three dimensions, before them both.

"This should be enough," said the one clad in black, which offset his entirely pale aspect. "You, of all, should know the import of this one."

"She was instrumental in the defeat of Darkseid," said the other. "I did not think, Lord Shaper, that you concerned yourself with such things."

"Even you would be surprised at what concerns me," said Morpheus. "This one, and her variant selves, have been focal points in their Truths. Anti-Life would have been a disconcertment. But two great battles remain in the future. She will be involved in them, and so will you, Grey Walker."

The Stranger bowed his head. "As He Who Is wills. How is it you foresee such matters?"

"That is of no concern," the Dream King said. "I granted you a boon a solstice ago. In payment, you must receive my burden of information. This you will carry with yourself through the centuries, until such time comes as to act upon it."

"One question," said the Stranger. "You dare trust me in this matter?"

The Sandman looked upon his guest with perhaps less opaqueness than usual.

"More than I would trust anyone outside of the Dreaming," he said, "and more than I would trust a few inside it."

-S-

After getting herself together as much as possible in the morning, Linda got a call. Hoping it wasn't somebody wanting her to cover a weekend shift, she half-yawned, "H'lo."

"Linda, this is Lois. Are you awake enough?"

"Oh, yeah, hi, Lois. What's up in Metropolis?" Lois had married her cousin Kal, aka Clark Kent, several months ago. That was after the Crisis, before the fight in the 30th Century with Mordru and Satan Girl, and before the war in the 20th with Darkseid and his troops. It had been a busy year.

"Not so much in Metropolis, dear, as in me. I'm expecting."

"You're pregnant?" Kara caught her breath and smiled widely. "Lois, that's terrific! How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling great, all things considered. It's only about five weeks along, but Clark gave me an exam—you know how—and we went in for an ultrasound to make it look good. It's twins."

"Twins?"

"Boy and a girl. How's that for production?"

"It's amazing, Lois. And at...well..."

"At my age, dear. You can say it."

"Uh, well...yeah."

"Guess my body just wouldn't quit until I landed Mr. Kent." Lois's chuckle carried easily through the line. "I wanted you to know ASAP. You'll almost be an aunt."

"Second cousin, I guess," said Linda. "How are you holding up? I hate to talk like that, but you know what kind of problems you might have."

"Oh, I know. But Clark went to that place where your mom and dad live and brought me back a treatment. That way I won't get hurt much when the kids kick, and I should be able to have 'em as easy as, well, writing a puff piece."

"Much relief, Lois. But you know, there's never been a child of, well, that kind born on Earth."

"I'll be a first. We might have to go to your hometown to have them. How are you and Dev getting along?"

"We're doing fine. I'm going to see him this weekend. Glad you caught me just before I went out."

"Well, I knew you were going. That's why I wanted to catch you before your left. Clark sends his regards, and he says he hopes you have a good time."

"Oh, I will. Thanks, Lois. And like they say where I come from...blessings on your house."

"Yours too, honey. Bye."

"Bye, Lois." She heard the connection break on the other end. What a thing it was, to have to talk in code about an Earthwoman having half-Kryptonian babies, and about leaving for a time a thousand years in the future. Then again, from her fifteenth year onward, her life had been anything but normal.

By Earth standards, it had been beyond normal way before that.

She changed into her Supergirl outfit, put on her boots, ran the comb through her hair to make it blonde again, took a deep breath, and opened the window. Once again she was the Girl of Steel. Once again she was flying from her apartment at a speed so great no normal eye could see her, no regular camera could catch her. A mechanism she and Kal had installed would close the window behind her in seconds.

Supergirl vibrated her body just so, and accelerated to just the proper velocity, making a red corona of air friction about herself.

An instant later, she vanished from 1986.

-S-

Otherwhen, a time alien from both Kara's destination and her native time:

The boy and his mentors looked over a battlefield. The enemy had not simply been routed, they had been destroyed. Utterly.

"Your time on this one was good," said the young one's guardian. "But not perfect."

The boy smirked. "Hey, I like to play around a little."

"I can empathize," said the guardian's aide, in an oily but subservient tone.

"Silence," said the guardian. "There will be times for 'playing around', as you put it, and for alacrity. Efficiency. Never forget, time wasted is time that can be used by your enemies."

"Understood," said the boy.

His hands behind his back, the guardian chose his next words carefully. Not just for the boy, but for himself.

"I have had three prior sons, boy. Two of my body, one of my charge. But you, my fourth son...you have had advantages your forebears never knew. I left their upbringing to others. I was busy. You, I have tended to with all my attention. With all my knowledge. Do you know why, boy?"

The aide dared not speak. He knew this moment was his master's, and his master's new son's.

"Because I am the greatest of the four," the boy responded. "Because I am the one who will break our enemies like pottery shards. Because I will avenge you, my father. Avenge you, and...my mother."

"Just so," said the guardian. "Do you...remember who undid my plans, a thousand years ago, boy? And who, not so long ago...undid your mother?"

The boy took a long time to answer. "The Supergirl," he said, in a voice just above a whisper.

"Just so," the guardian repeated. He began to trudge forward now, into the mass of wreckage, into the burning, into the broken bodies. The boy followed, and the aide followed him, more than a few paces behind.

"It will be some years before you are of age, boy," said the guardian, nudging half a corpse with his foot. "It will be some years before we can reveal ourselves. The United Planets, the Guardians of the Universe, they must be kept...unknowing. Timing is all-important, boy. Any general can tell you that. Timing is everything."

The boy kicked aside a thousand-pound war machine. It turned over several times, quite noisily. The aide cowered before the display of power. The boy, taking no note of him, said, "Do you really believe she will come back?"

"She will, boy. They will summon her."

A resolute look came over his features. "That is good, father. Very, very good."

"Do you know what you shall do, boy? Do you know what you shall do, in that time and on that day?"

He drew in great breaths, and looked as wild as a drug-hyped ancient hunter with the prey in sight.

"I will avenge my mother's death. I will avenge your honor. I will make her pay for blocking the True Path. I WILL DESTROY THE SUPERGIRL."

The guardian looked into the distance.

"And so you shall, my boy. And so, one day, you shall."

-S-

She didn't mind going to the future. She just didn't like the trip.

Everything had to be done just so. Achieving the proper velocity, the right vector for departure, the correct vibrational rate to shift one into trans-time, not between parallel worlds...well, once you had it down, you never forgot it. But she didn't like those bands of colored light that you had to see when you were in transit, she didn't like the noises which were not noise, she didn't like not being able to smell or touch anything, and she wished to heaven it was just as easy as flying to Venus or something.

(Not that she liked flying to Venus a bit. It was hot and full of liquid metal and the atmosphere distorted even super-vision sometimes. You could see the back of your own head on the horizon. Really, that would be useful for doing your hair, but blamed if she wanted to put up with that pit of a planet just for that.)

Nonetheless, she still felt forward motion in this time-limbo. Perhaps it was just a function of her mind. Was she really travelling "forward", after all, when she spent only a nanoinstant in the days between her home-time and the time she was visiting? Leave that to Rond Vidar or Brainy. They had time to care about such things. Maybe.

What a girl had to go through just to get a date these days.

Well, what the hey. Supergirl slowed her flying speed as she sensed the proper time coming up. Really, it was probably like piloting a plane: after awhile, you could sense where you should be and what you should be doing. Kal and she had been visiting the 30th more than any other time. They knew just when to pull into the station.

The flashing bands of color in wavelengths obvious to both human and Kryptonian vision began to fade. Reality asserted itself. Kara kept her vibration going so as not to provoke a sonic boom when she emerged into a single time-space and stopped.

There it was. The headquarters building of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Actually, it was a complex, and it covered several blocks of 30th Century Metropolis real estate. Thanks to attacks from super-villains, the buildings around it were either staffed by robots or equipped for quickie getaway by their inhabitants. She knew that the people who worked there drew higher pay for their proximity to the Legion.

Supergirl hovered above it, eighty feet in the sky, looking over the complex and the ground it covered. She had to chuckle when she thought of their original HQ, the "Legion Clubhouse"...an antique rocket ship-shaped building stuck nose-first in the ground. Thankfully, the Fatal Five had demolished that and they'd had to move into more spacious quarters.

Except for Tyroc, she had been the Legionnaire with the most absenteeism. That had upset Brainiac 5 a lot, and he'd begged her to take part in more missions. But, Sheol, she had a life in the 20th Century, first as a student in high school and college, then as a working gal in various enterprises. Plus the Supergirl shtick. And, truth to tell, even though she liked Brainy a lot, she just couldn't get interested in him from a love angle. That was hard to tell him, and she'd avoided doing it. Still, for all his 12th-level brain, Brainiac 5 hadn't figured it out. He hadn't wanted to.

Then she'd kissed Dev-Em in his presence, not even thinking about it until too late. He got the message, and didn't like it a bit. Luckily, Laurel Kent, Kal's 30th Century descendant, had come along and got Brainy on the rebound. Their relationship was working out really well, and Kara was glad for it.

All these thoughts went through her head within seconds. Below her, on the perimeter of the LSH buildings, some Science Police guards saw her, waved, and called up to her. She waved back. They didn't see her so often, and she had learned that being related to the original Superman had a lot of status with them. Here, he was a legend.

The IFF device in her belt had identified her as a friend. Kara plunged towards the main building and sped through its entryway, which opened readily for her. Computo, the computerized major domo of the place, said something to her which she would remember later. She flew through the hallways, parallel to the floor, and almost bowled over Bouncing Boy, who was coming around a corner with his wife, Duo Damsel. They cried out in surprise, but Kara changed direction on a dime, heading upward, stopping her flight, and dropping back to the floor for a two-point landing. She smiled, spread her arms, and embraced them both. "Chuck. Luornu. How are you doing?"

"Oh. Kara," said Chuck, struggling to hold his composure and his wife, the latter in one hand. "Shocked the hell out of me. Doing okay. How are you, anyway?"

Luornu was a little more put out. "Next time, give us a little warning before you fly into our faces, okay, Supergirl? Chuck'd have a lot easier time bouncing off you than me."

"Sorry about that, Lu," Kara said. "Haven't seen you in so long. What're you up here for?"

"Reserve business," said Chuck. "Appropriations. They've set a ceiling on us and we want to increase it by one or two. Got some good potentials out there I want to chase. Also, well, we've got a little announcement."

"Which is?"

"I'm pregnant," said Luornu.

"You are?" Kara gaped, while thinking, _Holy sun of Krypton...deja review!_

"Yup, it's a little girl," beamed Chuck Taine. "She's going to have her mom's old triplicating power. No bouncing, though, 'cause I wasn't born with it."

"And if you're curious, Kara," Luornu put in, "I'm just going to be one, not two, for the delivery. If I gave birth to duplicate kids, there would be complications like you wouldn't believe."

Snickering, Kara stuck out her hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't looking before I almost flew into you, Lu. Forgive me?"

"Sure." Duo Damsel shook Supergirl's hand. "You're in luck this time. No world-shaking menaces, just routine business this weekend. We hope."

"You and me both," she said. "Dev and I have some time to catch up on."

"We know all about catching up on things," smirked Chuck. "Say hi to him for me, Kara."

"Will do." The Girl of Steel pushed off her tiptoes and rose into the air again. This time she flew slower and used her X-ray vision to see ahead of her. It wasn't that far to her destination, and she smiled widely when she saw what was ahead.

Even better, she saw someone looking back at her, through the walls.

In an instant, Kara hurtled into the Legion's meeting room.

Around the big white round table were a scattering of Legionnaires and hangers-on. There was, as Luornu had said, no emergency at present, so only a few of the many members were present. She knew them all.

There was Element Lad, the present leader, sitting beside Shvaughn Erin, his girl, who was also an SP officer. Mon-El and Shadow Lass were beside them; the blue-skinned Shady perked up and waved to her when she caught sight of Kara. Brainiac 5 looked up at her with resolution, and kept his hand in that of Laurel Kent, who beamed at her. To their right sat Colossal Boy, with whom she'd had a harrowing adventure against Mordru last time they'd met.

Finally, sitting apart from the rest, was Dev-Em. He, who had been the one scoping her out with his X-ray vision (a power, Kara noted, which could also see through her costume), smiled wryly and lounged back in his chair.

"Good to see you made it, Karaish," Dev said.

"Afternoon, Kara," said Element Lad, extending his hand for a shake. "Good to see you back in our time."

"Just a minute," she said, and flew over to Dev. She hoisted him out of his chair and kissed him hard in mid-air. The Legionnaires, for the most part, guffawed. Then she flew the both of them over to Element Lad's side and shook his hand. "Thanks, Jan. It's always good to be here."

"I keep telling her that, but will she leave the 20th? No," said Dev. "I think she's an anti-30th bigot."

"Hey, if I'm not prejudiced against a century you're in, nothing can make me hate it," retorted Kara. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.

"We're just into routine business today," said Element Lad. "We've also got a quorum, here and on remote. If you'd like, we'd be glad to have you take part."

"Thanks, but there are other things I'd like to take part in," she replied. "Just one thing first. Dev, if you please." He released her and she walked over to another part of the table.

"Brainy," she said, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, Kara," said Laurel, "there's no need for that at all."

Brainiac 5 exhaled, then wrapped his arm around Laurel's waist. The display of affection seemed to give him pleasure, and he looked straight at Dev for a long moment. Dev gave back a look of indifference. "It's all right, Kara. As you can see, I have a Krypt of my own, and she has me."

Kara nodded, as Laurel, standing beside her man, put her arm about his shoulders. The two of them had gotten together in the wake of the Mordru war, and she was honestly glad of it. Kara had found out about it when she'd come back to attend the wedding of Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl not long afterward. Since then, she'd learned the two had shared an adventure against Pulsar Stargrave that cemented their relationship. Brainy and Laurel, she could tell, were a lot better couple than she and Brainy could ever have been.

"I'm glad the two of you could get together," she said. "And I really mean that." She bussed Laurel on the cheek. The black-haired girl in the bikini, a descendant of Superman and Lois Lane, squeaked in surprise and smiled.

"Blessings on your houses," said Kara.

"Yours too, Karavia," said Laurel, and hugged her with one arm. There was a bond that Krypt survivors shared that no one else could understand. Kara didn't know what Dev thought of the Brainy / Laurel relationship, but she knew he viewed the new Legionnairess as a sister in arms.

Speaking of arms, she thought...

"If you don't mind," she said, "Dev and I have a few things to catch up on."

"That we do," said Dev, who was now standing beside her. "If you'll all excuse us, we'd like to start catching right away."

"Begone, you two," said Jan Arrah. "Check in with us later in the weekend, Kara. Best of luck to you both."

"All of you, too," said Kara. Dev took her right hand and the two of them flew towards the doorway.

They never got there.

In mid-flight, before either of them could change course or even react, a nimbus of color opened in the very air in front of them. Kara opened her mouth in astonishment. A space- or time-warp of some sort, she guessed. She'd been through enough of them to know what they looked like. But why there, in one of the most heavily-guarded places in the galaxy? And why for both of them?

Even more important, who was creating it?

She turned her head towards Dev, who was looking as perplexed as she was. Then both of them were through.

Still holding hands, the two of them caromed off a wall, denting it a bit, and fell in a sprawl upon a floor. Kara was on her feet in an instant, in a fighting stance; Dev did much the same. The room seemed familiar, though a bit strange. It was even larger than the one they'd just left. And there was a host of people, both male and female, standing nearby.

One of them had green skin and blonde hair. Another, a woman, was brunette and wore a black one-piece swimsuit uniform. She knew them both. But...instead of being physically in their early 20's...

...these two, and the rest of the room's occupants, were fully adults. Probably in their late 30s, if she'd had to guess.

"Supergirl, Dev-Em," said the older Brainiac 5. "Sorry we had to take you this way."

"Very regretful," said a black-haired man in a yellow suit. Supergirl pegged him for an older Rond Vidar.

Dev was tense, poised to strike. "Somebody has thirty seconds to tell me what in blue thunder this is all about, before I punch somebody."

"Save it, Dev," said someone who had to be Mon-El. "There's a reason we had to summon you to this time, and in this manner."

Kara sighed, relaxed a bit, and put her hands on her hips. "And would someone kindly tell me what that reason is?"

Brainiac 5 looked at the both of them ruefully, paused, and then said one word.

"Darkseid."

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Hellspawn

Part 2

by DarkMark

Supergirl looked at the Legionnaires for a long moment, her mouth open, not saying anything. Though she could not see him, since he stood a bit behind her, Dev's mouth was open as well.

Then, still without saying anything, she turned and began to walk towards the door of the room that housed them.

"Kara," said a blonde man who had a more adult voice than the one she knew belonged to Element Lad, "wait."

"Wait?" She spun on her red-booted toe. "Wait?"

"He's right, Karaish," said Dev, walking towards her. "Let's hear things out."

"Oh. Let's hear things out. Yes. Let's just do that." Kara put her hands on her hips. "I used to be the Legion's star absentee. I was in so few cases that I'll bet some of the members didn't even know I was in it."

"Kara!" Was that Timber Wolf? Couldn't be anybody else, she thought, fleetingly, although the Legion had to have gained and lost members since the last time she'd seen them.

"Shut up! I'm there so few times that you, Brainy, if you are Brainy, made a robot love doll of me to keep him company. A lovely gesture, Brainy, and I'm flattered. But I was hardly ever there. And now? Now? You grab me out of even the 30th Century and you tell me, 'Oh, Darkseid's around and we just couldn't handle it without you!'"

"Kara." Dev had hold of her arm. She pulled it loose. "Will you shut up and let them talk?"

"I will not shut up and they can damn well talk after I'm finished! And I'm not finished!" She whirled and pointed at Mon-El, yes, that had to be Mon, because he was standing near a blue-skinned woman in a black costume that covered up a lot more bod-space than Shadow Lass's outfit used to, but it looked like her, anyway. "I serve in the Crisis and I almost die, I get my guts torn open, and luckily I get helped out by another Supergirl and healed by Raven. Almost Death #1. Then the Legion, my Legion, has me come to the 30th and I have to go to Hell and fight Mordru, and Satan Girl almost beats me to death. I still don't know how Dev brought me back, but I'm thankful he did. Thank you, Dev."

"You're welcome."

"Shut up! That's Almost Death #2 Then we go back to the 20th and everybody gets into a big gang war with everybody else, and I wind up on Apokolips and save everybody from that damned Anti-Life Equation, and I'm the only one on her feet to fight Darkseid, and he damned near disintegrates me. Almost Death #3. Am I seeing a pattern here? And now...now...you snatch me and Dev from what was supposed to be a peaceful weekend of relaxing and, and seeing the sights, and catching up with old Legion friends and, oh, you know what all else, and now whoomp! I'm in whatever time I'm in, and you say that magic word 'Darkseid', and I'm supposed to drop everything and sign up for the latest crusade, and I DON'T WANT TO!"

Silence.

She surveyed the faces before her and fit names to them, even though their faces were a bit older. Brainiac 5. Laurel Kent. Mon-El. Shadow Lass. Star Boy (who probably wasn't going by that name anymore). Lightning Lad. Saturn Girl. Element Lad. Timber Wolf. Lightning Lass. Rond Vidar. Cosmic Boy. Night Girl. And of course, there was Dev beside her.

She sighed and crouched, her elbows on her knees and her hands hiding her face. "I. Am. Just. Getting. So. Damned. Tired."

Laurel Kent, who, Kara noted, had grown into a fine figure of a woman, said, "Kara. I never would have believed you would act like this."

Dev crouched beside her and stroked her hair, gently. He looked up at the Legionnaires. "Actually, I'm not so far away from those sentiments. Brainy, tell me why you took us from the time we were in. Tell us now."

"We have evidence," said Brainiac 5, slowly, "that Darkseid has the son Mordru fathered with Satan Girl."

Kara's head came up.

"Actually, it's pretty good intel," said Lightning Man. Kara remembered him from a visit she and Kal had taken to the adult Legion's time, and he didn't look too much older than he had then. "We have a lot better spy network than in your time, Kara. Take a look."

A 3-dimensional hologram sprang into being just over their heads. It picked out a portion of the Milky Way Galaxy, and then drew in on several planets in distant but related solar systems. From each planet, in turn, images of carnage, wreckage, destruction emerged. Kara and Dev gazed at them. True, they weren't strangers to sights such as these. But, still...

From one, a moving image sprang forth. A rapidly-moving figure, tearing through the machinery and soldiers of a well-equipped army. Just one man against a horde, and within minutes, that man had won.

On the perimeter, two figures were visible. They weren't that distinct, but it was as though the image somehow meant to call attention to them. An instant later, it zoomed in on them. They were still indistinct, but the computer running the display enhanced it as much as it could. She knew these men, even if their images weren't that well-defined.

To emphasize it, Computo, or whatever had replaced it, produced two gallery images and set them beside the two mystery men. She didn't have to read the Interlac legends identifying them.

"Darkseid," said Kara. "Desaad."

"Back at last," said Dev. "My regards to your intel system."

"I'll mention that," said Brainiac. "There's more."

The focus of the image came back to the lone warrior, or Nemesis, or...hell, just call him a murderer. His visage was less distinct than those of the Apokolips pair, probably because the computer didn't have a model from which to work. Still...the eyes. She could make out enough of them to see something there, a fury, a lack of conscience, a lack of superego with which to restrain the id.

Eyes that, in another face, could have belonged to Satan Girl.

Supergirl was standing again. Quietly, she said, "What do they call him?"

"We don't know yet, Kara," said Star Boy. "But you can see why we wanted you on board for this one."

"Frab," she said.

Laurel came to stand before her, sympathetically. "Yeah," she said. "My sentiments exactly."

Dev said, "What do you expect us to do this time?"

"Help us, naturally," said Brainiac. "We need your powers, your intelligence, your capacity for espionage, Dev, and your ability to pull out a win when everything else has failed, Kara. Your characters are known to us, as we're all well aware."

She shook her head. How must this man have changed, who had once loved her for years from afar and now was married, probably for over a decade, to a woman who had once been a less-than-confident Legion hanger-on? How had Laurel changed? How had everything changed?

"How long has it been since I fought Mordru and Satan Girl?" Kara asked.

Laurel said, "Over 18 years. I know it feels like yesterday to you, Kara. But we need you, and we need Dev."

"One thing gets me," said Dev. "I fought Darkseid, back in the 20th, and I know he isn't thick. He's one of the smartest nasties out there, strategically speaking. The General. So how is it that you were able to get images on him and this kid? Wouldn't he have been smart enough to keep you from doing that?"

Mon-El was the one to answer. "In this case, Dev," he said, "it may be a sign from him. If he doesn't give a rap that we know or not...he may be calling us out."

"In that case, Rao help us," said Dev. "Rao help us all."

-S-

On the world called New Apokolips, plans were being made. As always.

"The enemy will probably try to resummon the spirits of my first son and Izaya," said Darkseid, standing with his hands behind his back, staring at a star-map on a wall before him. "With Nemesis's magic, I fear this not."

"That tired old prophecy of meeting Orion in Armagetto?" Desaad smiled, but hoped his liege would not take offense. He had no desire to be killed again.

"The Source said it once, and Metron repeated it to me," said Darkseid. "But I do not fear it. No victor was mentioned, and in over a thousand years, it has not come to pass."

"I would like to meet him, in Armagetto or any other place," said Nemesis, the son of Satan Girl and Mordru. "I would take his Astro-Force and force it into his guts, before I ripped his body asunder."

Darkseid turned, slowly, and even the youth subsided.

"Underestimating my first son's power would be like unto underestimating my own," Darkseid said. "All too many battles are lost thru one's own arrogance, and thru underestimation of the enemy. This will not be done. Agreed?"

"Agreed, father," said Nemesis. The other held his gaze steadily for a few seconds. Nemesis finally turned away.

The master of New Apokolips faced the wall, away from the other two in the chamber. "There seems to be no era without 'heroes'. From my own time unto this, and perhaps before, there have been—forces of opposition. I marshaled their enemies from five dimensions a millennium ago, even found Anti-Life, and yet...I lost. I slept till this era, stole power from your blood-father, boy, and from others, controlled a world-army of Daxamites, each with the power of a Superman, and yet...I failed. Still, I exist, and in that...there is confirmation. I should not be allowed to live thus far, had I yet achieved my destiny. We will bring order to the cosmos, boy. If not thru Anti-Life, then by sheer brute force."

"And genius, sire," said Desaad.

"Yes, Desaad, and that, too," said Darkseid. "Let us hope that genius will be sufficient this time. I may not have Anti-Life, but I will acquire what I require. Go. Tell the armies the time is nigh for battle. We attack."

"I shall tell them we strike on the morrow, sire," said Desaad, getting up hastily from his chair.

Darkseid paused, and looked at him. "Who said anything of tomorrow, Desaad? I want them in the warzone today."

-S-

The United Planets got the notice from Aldebaran III thru infrawave but, even so, it wasn't in time for them to do a damned thing about it.

The emergency communications center sent the message that the planet was under attack from a blitzkrieg-style fleet of warships, not of a design known to present civilization. They couldn't do a match with earlier craft, outside of identifying a few common features. But that didn't seem to matter.

The defenders were mowed down in the air, on the ground, at sea, and everywhere else they stood to fight. What reports they managed to pass on from the front suggested that the invaders had more than regular Earth-class strength, weaponry beyond what was known to the U.P., and some sort of blanketing, terrifying energy that, some said, registered high on the mystic scale.

Within a standard Earth day, Aldebaran III was conquered. What images were relayed back to the U.P. Counterintelligence Corps showed the planet's rulers surrendering to a general in unusual armor, and an apparent youth who stood arrogantly, arms crossed in front of him, looking at his prey with triumph and contempt.

Naturally, the pictures were passed on to the Legion of Super-Heroes, among others. By that time, the strange young conqueror had gone, and three other planets were in the throes of defeat.

The Great Campaign had begun.

-S-

The Rock of Eternity hangs in the junction of all Time and Space, and in the temple which stands upon its green, verdant surface, the gods of Olympus spend their normal existence. So, too, does a wizard who was once called William Batson, then Captain Marvel, and finally just the Old Man. He is aided by a one-time foe who was given the power of six ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses, and who now is the Old Man's assistant, along with his paramour Ar-Ual.

Thanks to his former crimes, the assistant, Black Adam, will never be allowed to advance to the state of wizardhood. But he does what he can to atone.

On this day, however, he was caught napping, and the Old Man almost did the same.

Black Adam, clad in a grey tunic quite unlike his old uniform of black and yellow and cataloging the annals of Zeus, saw the wizard suddenly stand rigid in the library chamber, his eyes widening as if...it had to be admitted...in fear.

"What is—" Adam began.

"Go to Zeus. Have him throw the thunderbolts. Now!"

Adam truly wanted clarification. But the look in the Old Man's eyes showed that he wouldn't get any, and would be a fool to ask. With the speed of an heir of Shazam, he flew to the temple of the Olympians. Zeus was there, with several others, one of which was Ar-Ual. Hastily, Black Adam went to one knee.

"Shazam-heir," said Zeus, in formal greeting.

"Your liege," said Adam. "The wizard Batson says you must throw the thunderbolts, at once."

"Without mortal request?"

"He mentioned none, sire."

Zeus looked at the Egyptian quizzically. But he reached beside himself for the quiver that stood beside his throne. From it, he withdrew three jagged golden thunderbolts. At a gesture, a section of the temple roof opened up. As Ar-Ual looked into her mate's eyes with questioning, Zeus let fly once, twice, three times.

The bolts of power flew into the space between immortal and mortal worlds.

As the third one flew, Black Adam stepped towards his lover and took her in his arms.

"Adam, what," she managed to say.

Using his god-given strength, the Egyptian superbeing threw her through the temple roof before the hole closed, fast on the trail of the thunderbolts.

Ar-Ual had time barely to cry out before leaving the atmosphere that surrounded the Rock of Eternity. She also, hurtling through space, was able to see what occurred next.

A bolt of blinding white energy emerged from an unknown point, struck the Rock, and engulfed it in an explosion of force that caused her to shut her eyes.

When she was able to open them again, the Rock was nowhere to be seen.

Her cry of anguish could not be heard in soundless space, not even to herself. She still sped away from the site of the Rock, propelled by Black Adam's throw.

Then she took control of her flight with her own inborn Kryptonian power. She could follow the thunderbolts to their destination, an Earth foreign to her universe. Or she could try for help from a source more familiar to her, even a thousand years and more from her own era.

Choosing a course apart from the bolts, she headed for a warp that would lead her to the dimension occupied by a world some had called Earth-One.

-S-

There was another Earth, in another plane of existence, which had luckily been spared war for the past 1000 years. After its conquest by the Nazis in the mid-20th Century and its liberation by a team of heroes from three worlds, the Earth housed a human race which, now unified, forged a new kind of unification, and strove for excellence in peace, not in war.

They had no need of heroes with fantastic powers. Some humans, mutated through natural or scientific means, had turned their abilities to civic use. They appeared here and there throughout the millennium, but there were no villains of similar power for them to battle, and this was counted a blessing.

One of those who counted it a blessing was Sammwel Smyth, who lived in North America, in a city once known as Dallas. He was a professor of ancient history, and his greatest love was the lore of the Freedom Fighters, those who had liberated his world from the German conquerors and helped mold it into the world it had become, a thousand years hence. So much there was still to know about them, and so much of their lore was hidden. As if no one could understand some of their nuances, without being one of the Fighters themselves.

Samm Smyth was an old man now, with white hair and a goatee he had fashioned after one of his favorite heroes. But he knew, as he prepared for bed now, that the body he wore could only last for a few more years. Perhaps less. Not even the science of his time could undo the heart condition he had developed.

As he reached for a globe of water, his right arm began to tremble. And try as he might, he could not get it to complete the action.

The monitor to Medical Services went off, in conjunction with the lessening beat of his heart. Samm felt sensations he had never hoped to feel, but knew that one day he must. The floor was cushioned and comforting as he hit it, lying on his back.

At least his children and grandchildren would carry on, thought Samm, as he began to close his eyes. Even his nieces, nephews, and grandnephews...

...and a particular vision filled his eyes, or perhaps his mind, with nothing in common of what he would expect of Death, or an angel.

A landscape of golden mist was the backdrop. Before it, standing perhaps on nothing visible, a figure dressed in three primary colors looked out at him (and it had to be looking at him), with eyes that could have stared down an eagle.

The figure's right arm came up and its forefinger pointed directly at him.

"Sammwel Smyth," it said, "I want you."

After a second's hesitation, Samm knew there was but one response.

"How may I serve?" he said.

When the medrobs and human medics got to Samm's apartment a few instants later, they were totally mystified. A shattered water-globe was on the floor and the room sensors showed that Smyth had fallen beside it and lay there for a few seconds.

Then the sensors did not register his presence.

How in the hell did a man that dead get up and walk away?

-S-

On yet another Earth, a large number of heroes, both juvenile and mature, were gathered in seats, some of which hovered by magnetic means, around a central dais. On that dais, the leader of their group spoke to them.

"Here's the upswing," said Superman. "Sorceress has told us there's a major outflux of mystic energy leaving our dimension and headed for another universe. Since a lot of our operations depend on her ability…and others, as you know…handling the magical arts, we're probably going to have to send a team to investigate. And if need be, to deal with the problem. Any questions before we ask for volunteers?"

"How big a team do you want?" asked Atomic Ace, who wore a protective costume of red and gold. "No matter what, I want to be on it."

"I'm thinking about eight," said Superman. "Of course, I'll be participating, and so will Sorceress." He nodded to the beautiful blue-skinned girl who sat demurely at the meeting table, her color a trait of her ancestress, the Blue Lama.

Ultra Man, whose energy-based power allowed him to use one power at a time at full efficiency, or more than one at lesser settings, raised his hand. "Sign me up. Phantomette as well."

Green Lantern, whose ring had been handed down for centuries since it was fashioned by Alan Scott, said, "I'll go. Any loss of magic affects me, too."

Powerman, a Thoronite whose abilities approached those of Superman, said, "Been awhile since I've seen action. I'll volunteer."

Amazon Queen, a blonde-headed scion of the Trevor / Prince line, stood up, magic lasso at her hip. "This one isn't just for the boys. My powers come from magic as well. I'm getting in on this one, Supes."

The brunette Titan Girl, from one of Saturn's moons, spoke up. "You can probably use a telepath on this mission. I'm in."

"Which leaves us with one slot open," Superman noted. "Last call."

One red-gloved hand went up so fast it was there before anyone but Amazon Queen, Powerman, and Superman could follow it. "I'mnumbereight," said Johnny Flash.

"Looks like we have our outbound team," said Superman. "The rest of you are under Magnetic Man's command till we get back."

Shiela Thirteen, who had been a full-fledged heroine in the past and now was an honorary member, said, "Excuse me, Dave. You mentioned a magical outflux. Could this be related to the loss of my helmet?"

"It could very well be," said Superman. "After all, we are bound for Earth-One. Now, team, if you'll follow me to the transporter, we'll get started."

"Just three of us to test the waters, as usual?" asked Green Lantern.

"Yes," said Superman. "Me, Johnny, and Sorceress. The Strength, Speed, and Magic team. The rest of you follow in a day's time. Let's go."

The nine members of the Legion of Allied Heroes' away team got up from their places at the table and went forth to their interdimensional duty.

-S-

It was night, now, and Kara and Dev managed to be alone on the roof of the Legion's complex, sitting side by side and looking up at the stars. Kara's hand found Dev's. "I used to enjoy star gazing," said Kara. "That was before I started thinking of them as battlefields."

"They're not all war-places, love," said Dev, massaging her fingers with his own. "Some of them, many of them, are peaceful. I've been to a few."

"Not likely on Legion business."

"No, but they're out there."

"Dev, whatever else, we have to settle this. This thing we have between ourselves."

"I suppose we do."

"Dev?" She didn't look at him as she spoke.

"Yes, Kara?"

"If you'll marry me…"

He waited.

"I'll live in the 30th."

He waited before speaking. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

She turned her head to look at him. "What I want is you. If this century is part of that, just so long as I can go home when I want, I'll come live with you."

He sighed. "You'd better be sure about this, Kara. You really want to get married?"

"Don't you?"

"I want you."

"Then say it, Dev. I want to hear it from you."

"All right, Kara. Will you marry me?"

She stood up. "I'll give you my answer in bed."

He got to his feet. "Probably be the best answer I'll get all week."

"Maybe not, if you're lucky." She took his hand again and they headed for the downlift. "But it might be our last chance for awhile."

And if we're not lucky this time, she thought, it might be the last chance in our lives.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Supergirl:

Hellspawn

Part 3

By DarkMark

Takron-Galtos I and II were hit by attacks so closely together as to be almost simultaneous. Whoever was doing it knew his stuff. Precisely enough to target power plants across both planets, despite their shielding, and shut off the energy that shielded the great prison systems which were both worlds' only business.

Then came the transport beams, the ones invisible to the naked eye but effective, nonetheless. Only certain cells were emptied. Rank and file criminals were, largely, left where they were. But others, of great power, and significantly old enemies of the Legion of Super-Heroes, were spirited away.

The escapees found themselves reassembled on the receiving decks of battle cruiser starships, the likes of which they had never seen before. They were covered by both automated and hand-held weaponry, and none of them doubted that the armament could kill them all.

Before them, a hologram sprang up of a being many had heard of in myth and whispers, but none actually expected to meet. They did not doubt him when he identified himself.

"I am Darkseid," came the voice from an audio carrier. "Swear fealty to me, or die."

Most of them swore on the spot. One of them, Pthiss, a psychotic semi-cyborg who had killed his share of allies and enemies both, snarled and raised his bladed hand.

He was pinpointed by at least fifty blasters and reduced to atoms on the spot.

There were no laggards after that demonstration.

-S-

Brainiac 5 caught the message first on his Priority receiver. Since he was Legion leader, he got the broadcast right thru a transdimensional brain implant. To those about him, he said, "It's begun."

The other Legionnaires, by name Laurel Kent, Mon-El, Shadow Lady, Star Man, Lightning Man and Lightning Lady, Element Man, Timber Wolf, Saturn Woman, Cosmic Man, Night Woman, Supergirl, and honoraries Rond Vidar and Dev-Em, reacted in their own individual ways, most of them very quietly. They'd been through enough crises in their fairly long careers to process such information efficiently, and to internalize most of the stress.

"Something beyond Aldebaran?" said Element Man.

Brainy nodded. "Takron-Galtos, both of them. Darkseid's forces have liberated the prisoners."

Supergirl said, "What about the Infinite Man?"

"We dealt with him a long time ago, Kara," said Cosmic Man. "Sorry."

"No apology necessary, Rokk," she said. After her outburst a day ago she was getting more into the team-player mode. Dev sat beside her and held her hand. She glanced at him and saw his face was a bit grim, as well.

"There are still thousands of inmates-I should say former inmates," said Saturn Woman, "who've been freed, and many of them are old Legion enemies. We need to make fight-or-flight preparations."

"You can't just leave Earth if they're attacking," Dev said.

"We've had to do it before, Dev," said Mon, sitting beside his wife, Shadow Lady. "If we have to attack from an offworld base, it may come to that."

Wordlessly, Kara remembered just such a situation, in which the Legion had to go into hiding to battle Mordru, the ultrapotent wizard that she'd ended up having to kill on the threshold of what might have been Hell. She also remembered that Kal had told her of how, as Superboy, he and three other Legionnaires (including Mon-El and Shady, who were sitting near her right now) had to travel to the past, to Smallville, in order to escape Mordru for a time and learn how to defeat him.

She sighed. When she'd come to Earth at age 15 and gained her wondrous powers, all she'd done with them at first was help out the other kids in the orphanage where she stayed. Rao knows, Kara never had to deal with a Crisis situation there.

Most of the time, anyway.

"So, what's it going to be?" asked Kara. "Fight, or flight?"

"For right now, flight might be the best thing," said Brainy. "We could gain some perspective and plan our battle. But I'll open the floor to a vote. Show of hands for fight?"

The hands went up. Neither Kara nor Dev raised theirs.

"Flight?"

Other hands were raised. Kara's and Dev's were among them.

"Flight has it by three votes," said Brainy. "The Transponder is already primed. Let's go."

"To where?" Kara asked.

He looked at her. "You'll learn when we get there."

Rond smiled at her, thinly. "Security. We don't know who's listening, Kara."

"Oh, I think we know who's listening," she said.

The fourteen of them went to the basement level of the Legion headquarters, where Lightning Lad opened an Inertron door and admitted them into a fairly large room. Though the design was different, Kara recognized enough elements in it. The room vaguely resembled the Justice League's Transporter, which the JLA had used to teleport its members across the world or between Earths.

The Legion members filed in quickly and the door quickly shut behind them on servos. Brainy manipulated a wall control. "So we're going to another Earth?", said Kara.

"Got it in one," Timber Wolf said.

"I'm keeping my Time Trigger handy," said Rond. "Just in case we need another time, too." She looked at him and reflected that he'd built a time machine years before this that improved on even the Legion's Time Bubbles, which were elaborations on old Rip Hunter designs. She also remembered, with a sting of empathy, that he was the son of one of the Legion's deadliest foes, Universo.

Then the machine hummed gently. "I want all of us out within 60 seconds of crossing," said Brainy. "I've set the receiver to self-destruct."

"How are we supposed to get back?" said Kara.

Lightning Lady looked at her, and said, "We'll find a way, dear." That seemed to be that.

There was a sensation of lightness, as if body mass was being traded briefly with something else. She took Dev's hand firmly and squeezed it. Within seconds, the feeling passed. The machine noise abated, and Brainiac 5 opened the door again.

"All out, now," he said.

She saw, as they exited, that they were in a chamber not unlike the one they'd left on their own world. It was outfitted with high-tech devices similar to those in the Legion Headquarters, and a big L jutted in relief from the facing wall. But she was tired of asking questions, and assumed answers would be coming forthwith.

Actually, two people were coming forthwith. One of them was a blonde woman in a short white robe tied at the waist with a black sash. The other was a man who looked to be in his mid-forties, wearing a red and purple costume with what looked like magnetic lines of force as a chest emblem.

"Hello, Ronn," said Brainy. "Sorry we have to claim sanctuary. We're in a situation on our own world."

"Well, Brainy, wish you'd have told us you were coming," said the man. "But we've got a situation of our own. Who are the new faces?"

"They're both from a few years back," Brainiac said. "You probably recognize Kara's uniform. She's Supergirl, from our 20th Century. The one beside her is Dev-Em. He's an intelligence agent, late of Krypton, and a frequent liaison. Dev, Kara, meet Ronn Krikk, Magnetic Man. And the lady here is Sheila Thirteen. Both of them are from the League of Allied Heroes."

Cosmic Man, smiling, stepped up to greet his counterpart. Kara and Dev looked at each other, then back at their two hosts. Behind them, a wrenching noise indicated that the Teleport Cube had become inoperable.

"Welcome," Sheila said, "to what you people call Earth-Two."

-S-

The Vizier looked up from his position on the floor of his study. Nobody but one would dare disturb him in the midst of his morning devotions, and, indeed, it was that one whom he saw shoving open the door.

"A moment, boy," said the Vizier. "I must have a moment alone."

Nemesis smirked. "We have few moments alone left to us, old man. The War has begun. You must have somehow heard of it."

Saying nothing, the Vizier put his face downward to the designs inset into the mystic circle that covered the area of flooring in which he knelt. If Nemesis were not Darkseid's adopted son, and the Vizier's own student, the teacher would never have allowed such a violation of protocol. Indeed, the violator would be lucky to count himself alive, in a different sort of body.

Nemesis strode forward, broke the circle, put his arms under the old man's armpits, and raised him to his feet. The Vizier's composure shattered.

"No," he said. "No!"

About them, drawn by Nemesis's breach of the protective circle, horrific forms began to congeal. Beings half-seen, ill-defined, hard for the human mind and perceptive organs to make sense of, and more terrifying for all that.

The youth looked upon them with arrogance. He swung his arm in an arc, his fingers bunched and pointed stiffly outward. From their tips their coursed a whitish bolt of energy, smashing into each and every one of the entities that had been summoned. They seemed to stagger back, and, within seconds, all were gone from the Vizier's plane of existence.

"You are needed, old man," the youth said. "By me and my father."

"But…why?"

"To bear witness to my greatness. Now come along!"

-S-

Supergirl and Dev followed the Legionnaires who were following Sheila Thirteen and Magnetic Man into the Alliance Meeting Room, as Sheila had called it. On the way, they had their questions fielded by Brainy, as might be expected.

"In your time, Kara, I know there were a lot of crossings between our Earth and this one," he said. "Those legendary Justice League / Justice Society meetings. But by our time, the barriers between Earths had strengthened a bit, and there weren't that many inter-Earth ventures."

"Also, after the Leaguers and Society folk wrapped it up, there wasn't that much call for it," put in Dev. "That's not telling you much you couldn't guess, so it should be safe."

Kara nodded. "As long as you don't tell me when or how, it should be."

"In earlier times, we Legionnaires met with the League and Society in a battle against Mordru," said Brainy. "You weren't along for that, but I'm sure Kal told you about it. That was our last encounter with Earth-Two until Pulsar Stargrave kidnapped Laurel and I, right after Jo and Tinya's wedding."

She gave Dev a look. "You never told me about that!"

"Didn't seem relevant, darling," said Dev.

"We met the League of Allied Heroes then, and later, when we were imprisoned by Grimbor, we had to use the same crystal ball that the Justice League did a thousand years past to summon them for our aid," Brainy went on. "After that, we teamed up several times, but not as often as the JLA and JSA. But it's been more than a few years since we've met."

"About 12, to be exact," said Shadow Lady, who was walking a bit ahead of them.

"Guess I managed to miss it all, unless I turned up older than I am now," remarked Kara. "And don't tell me about that, either."

"We won't," said Ayla Ranzz.

Kara sighed. Time travel was one hell of a mental organization problem, even if you did it linearly.

It also occurred to her that the Legion knew exactly how she and Kal would die. This wasn't the first time she thought of it, but now it seemed to hit her like a load of cement. Perhaps the reason why was because Dev was beside her now, and she had fallen in love with him…

…and he knew that he was falling in love with a woman long dead.

Even Dev noticed the change in her stance. "Kara? What's wrong, luv?"

"Oh, plenty," she said. "Not much out of the ordinary, though." She entwined her fingers with his as they emerged into the meeting room. It was very large, circular, and surrounded by two tiers of seats along the wall, with a lower table on the floor and a higher one, transparent in nature, floating at the level of the second tier.

"Fascinating," said Rond.

"What's so fascinating about an anti-grav table?" said Timber Wolf, unpleasantly.

"Not that, Brin," said Rond. "Just the parallels between our Legion and theirs, their headquarters and our own. I imagine the Justice League felt the same way about the Justice Society when they first met them. I just wonder…" His voice trailed off.

"Wonder what, Rond?" asked Lightning Lady, staying close by Timber Wolf.

Rond sighed. "I wonder if they have a parallel to Ripley Hunter on this world. He was my inspiration, the man who invented the Time Sphere. But I've never found the nerve to go back and see if I could find him in the 20th. Suppose it's a pity."

"We all have our little hangups," said Brin.

Shiela took her seat at the head position of the big table and waved the others to adjoining chairs. "I've taken precautions to conceal the passing of your group to our Earth," she said. "The more we can conceal your presence from Darkseid, the more time we'll have to work on an attack strategy."

"Many thanks for hosting us," put in Saturn Woman, a stickler for formality.

"Many thanks for coming to our aid in times past," said Magnetic Man. "Want me to do the summoning, dear?"

"You have to ask?" Shiela said.

"And this summoning is…what?" asked Kara, feeling very touristy all of a sudden.

"Just watch," advised Brainiac.

The center of the table sank and, quickly, and a large crystal ball rose in its place. Kara's eyes widened. She remembered the tale Kal told of the first JLA / JSA meeting, but she never dreamed she'd see something like unto that.

"Allies. A multi-Earth crisis situation is at hand," said Ronn Krikk. "Any available members, report for duty. All others, consider yourselves on alert. Let transition begin."

With that, the ball glowed with a golden light…not eerie, but somehow, Kara thought, almost reassuring. As if she could sense the power of Good emanating from it. That, at least, was heartening.

But she barely had time to ponder that before a human form began to emerge from the light.

It was a male, clad in a yellow-and-orange metallic uniform, one with a mask that was open at the eyes and over the nose and mouth. On his chest was the symbol for a hydrogen atom. He had an aura of power barely kept in check, and her mind instantly called up the reference of Wildfire. He rose from the depths of the crystal and stepped out onto a ramp that emerged from its side.

"May I introduce to you newcomers…the Atomic Ace," said Ronn.

"Blessed day," said the Ace, nodding briefly towards them.

Seconds later, a green nimbus appeared from the crystal, and a form more familiar to Kara's eyes came forth. True, it wasn't the hero she knew from her world, nor the one from Earth-Two, but his costume was similar to the latter's. He wore a suit with green pants, a red shirt, and a purple eye-mask. No cape, but his chest had a familiar insignia on it.

Almost as familiar as the ring on his hand.

"And this is…the Green Lantern," Ronn continued.

"They have 'em over here, too?" said Dev.

"They probably have them everywhere," said Kara.

Another instant, and a lovely brunette clad in white burst forth. She did a somersault through the air and, indeed, through every solid object she came in contact with, before lighting on her feet behind the crowd. She spread her arms and legs to balance herself and smiled at them all.

"Phantomette," announced Ronn.

"Which would be this world's Phantom Girl," said Kara.

"Quite," said Brainy.

Swiftly behind her came a man in red, black, and green, brown-haired with white at the temples, and sporting a beard. Since there was no white in that, Kara supposed that he was tinting it. But she knew who he looked like, even though he was older than the one she knew and had a few unique physical characteristics. He looked tough.

"Ultra Man," said Ronn, with pride.

"Just who I thought it'd be," she murmured. Ultra Man waved and went to the side of Phantomette.

Next came a woman, and no one from the 20th or 30th Centuries could mistake her. The brief red, white, and blue costume had been handed down for generations, as had the shining lasso clasped to her hip. Her hair was dark brown rather than black, but other than that, she looked very much like her forebear. She stepped forth, unhurriedly, and surveyed the newcomers without saying a word.

Kara couldn't hold herself back. Instinctively, she opened her arms and approached, with a smile. "Wonder Woman!"

The Amazon's stare stopped her a few feet away. "Actually, I'm the Amazon Queen. Are you…a Superwoman?" said the woman of Earth-Two.

"Super-girl, actually," said Kara. "Sorry. I'm a, uh, a friend of the Wonder Woman of my, my world."

Amazon Queen nodded briefly and favored her with a slight smile before going to her place at the table.

The next was another man. Actually, he was an alien, but he was male, so… On top of that, he was short, green, had very big ears and a very long nose, and looked not unlike a goblin or troll, as such things were supposed to be. Kara lifted her eyebrows, and the newcomer caught it.

In an instant, she was looking at herself. The other "she" favored her with a smart-alecky grin. Then she turned into the troll again.

"Kid Chameleon," said Ronn, with a sigh.

"Hope you don't mind me doing that," said the Kid. "I enjoy upsetting new Terran acquaintances like that. I'm from a race that fought the old JSA, but I'm proud to make common cause with their successors."

"Charmed," said Kara, and hoped she looked it as she shook his greenish hand.

Then another human male emerged from the crystal ball, and he looked familiar indeed. He had dark black hair and wore a uniform of green with yellow trim, completed with a white cape. The features were a bit different, but Kara knew which Legionnaire he resembled. She caught her breath, and regretted it as Dev shot a glance her way.

Mon-El was first to speak. "Great Tord," he said. "You're me!"

The Ally smiled. "Only if you're from the planet Thoron," he said. "My name's Ben Gand. And yeah, I think you look like me. A bit."

Mon smiled and grabbed Ben by the shoulders. "My real name's Lar Gand, but I go by Mon-El as a Legionnaire. My world's Daxam. I think it's our universe's equivalent of yours. Greetings, cousin."

Ben returned the smile and grabbed Mon by the elbow a second before Sorceress said, "Uh…"

Supergirl caught the sight of it and cursed herself for not paying attention.

Coming from the crystal ball was a huge red hand, and it didn't look friendly.

On instinct, she blasted it with heat vision on full. The hand began to shake in pain. Dev added his heat beams to hers and it began to withdraw. In another instant, Atomic Ace formed a ball of nuclear force in his hand, wound up, and threw it at the red hand.

It exploded. When the flash of light was done, there was no trace of the hand. The crystal ball was blown to flinders, too.

Shiela Thirteen favored the Ace with a glare. "Forward that, Double A. You blew up our portal."

"Sorry," said the Ace. "Didn't have time to worry about it."

Element Lad stepped forward and extended his hands, sensing what radioactive elements remained in the blast site and transmuting them to benign substances. Thoughtfully, he didn't reduce them to lead. There was no telling what effect it might have on Ben Gand.

Cosmic Man said, "That wasn't one of your members, I hope."

Kid Chameleon said, "Not to the nth power. I don't have a make on it, myself, but that hand wasn't a friendly."

"Definitely not," said Saturn Girl. "I couldn't get a good reading on its mentality, but it was radiating hostility like a heat equalizer in Antarctica. Which means…"

"Which could mean Darkseid knows where we are," said Dev. "Perishing great."

Kara turned away and hugged herself. Then she said, "Excuse me, please," and walked away.

Dev looked at her, his mouth slightly open. Brainiac said, "Go after her, Dev."

"On it."

He caught up with her leaning against a hallway wall, both of them thankfully alone. Stopping only two feet away from her, Dev said, "Scared?"

"Like you don't know, Dev."

"I know all about fear, Karaish. Don't let the suavity fool you."

"It doesn't." She didn't turn around.

He crouched beside her. "Was it the hand?"

"It's everything."

He waited.

"Dev. Things used to be so much simpler, even when I was Supergirl. Something would happen once, maybe twice a month, and I'd take a few days off and fix it. I mean, that's usually all it took, even for the toughest cases. A few days."

"Yeah." Dev nodded, even though they both knew he was never around her at that time.

"Now it's like I get a month or so off, or maybe only a couple of weeks, and whomp. It's the whole universe, Dev. I get yanked out of my own time and made to save all of Creation. I'm afraid, Dev."

He put his arms around her. "Then we'll both be afraid together, Kara."

"Can you promise me that, Dev?"

"I can promise that, if it's in me, Kara, if these ruddy Krypt powers have anything to do with it, with everything that's in me, then yes, Kara. We'll be together."

Without turning, she reached back and took his hand. "I'll move to the 30th, Dev. If that's what it takes to be with you, I'll move there and just go back to visit the 20th."

"Is that really what you want, little one?"

"You're what I want, Devian. If that's what I've got to do, then I'll do it."

He exhaled.

"Dev. Do you know Legion leaders are empowered to perform marriages?"

"They are? I never read that part of their constitution."

"I want to get married, Dev. I want to marry you today. Or tomorrow, if today's too early. So that if…something goes wrong…we'll at least have that. Will you do that, Dev? Will you?"

He smiled.

"Yeah. I mean, I'll have a Sheol of a lot to explain to El as soon as we see him again, but…yes. I'll marry you, Kara. For certain."

Supergirl turned and embraced him. He couldn't see the tears in her eyes while she had her head on his shoulder.

Then again, he knew the drill.

-S-

Darkseid looked on the image of the two lovers in his viewscreen and made no comment. Desaad was tending to Nemesis. If he had managed to put his own hand through the portal in their crystal, atomic blasts would have meant nothing. But he had materialized a hand of ectoplasm as a probe, and the feedback had gotten to him.

"Let me through, father," pleaded Nemesis. "Let me have the Supergirl."

Turning towards his adopted son, Darkseid regarded him with no visible emotion.

"Learn patience, my son. We have a cosmos to conquer. A multiverse to subdue. But these pawns will soon be dealt with, upon my word."

"Soon?"

"Soon," said Darkseid, "you will have the Supergirl."

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Supergirl:

Hellspawn

Part 4

By Darkmark

Brainiac 5 didn't consult the opened book in his hands. He knew the words by heart. But ceremony was ceremony, and everyone there appreciated it.

"Do you, Dev-Em, take this woman Kara Zor-El as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," he said, without hesitation. His hand was entwined with Kara's, and neither could tell whose palm was sweatier.

"And do you, Kara Zor-El, take this man Dev-Em as your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," said Kara, thinking for a moment that she had never expected to get married in her Supergirl costume.

"Then, by the power bestowed upon me as Legion Leader, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss."

They needed no encouragement. There were whistles, catcalls, applause, and, yes, thrown rice. Kara had insisted upon it. They held the kiss for a long time.

But, almost before they were done, a blur of red appeared in the chamber, and many of those wedding guests prepared for battle, if need be. Supergirl and Dev separated instantly and faced the blur.

In another second, it had resolved into a red-and-yellow-suited figure. "Are you are they from the other Earth?" said Johnny Flash.

"They must be," said a voice that was somehow familiar, from beyond the doorway. "We don't have anybody like her here."

Both Kryptonians and all the party from Earth-One looked upon the most primal form of superheroism on any Earth.

"You're Superman," said Kara, half in awe. "Thank Rao your line lasted this long on this Earth."

He nodded, smiling tightly. "Kal-L V at your service. You must be Superwoman."

"Supergirl, actually," said Dev. "I'm a Krypt, too. From our universe, that is. You can call me Dev-Em."

Kara stiffened, suddenly. She remembered that this Superman's ancestor, the original Superman of Earth-Two she had seen him die in the battle with the Anti-Monitor. "Please, Dev, give me a moment alone with this gentleman," she said.

He shrugged. "Go ahead."

"We don't have time for that," snapped Superman. "Sorceress she's down. She needs help."

"Where is she?" said Cosmic Man, almost knowing the answer.

"EarthOne," said Johnny. "Wehadspeed. Managedescape."

Ultra Man inhaled. "The three of them were our Away Team. We left them there to investigate the magic outflux Now..."

Atomic Ace said, "We've got to try a rescue effort. Who got Sorceress, Kal?"

"Sorry I didn't catch his name," said Superman. "We were a little busy trying to fight or flee. I hit him hard, but he was as hard as me. Drove me back with a magic bolt."

Kara said, "So you're Power Girl's descendant?"

Kal-L seemed a bit suspicious as she pulled him aside. "What's this about?"

"Was your ancestress Power Girl? I mean, Kara Zor-L?"

"No, of course not." Superman looked a bit miffed.

"Then, how? I mean, I knew your first Superman just a bit. I never knew he had a I mean "

The Man of Steel looked at her with a bit of understanding. "He had a son."

"I well, I never knew "

"They didn't exactly get along. Can we leave it at that?"

Kara nodded, and said nothing.

-S-

Darkseid's next target had been chosen precisely. It was the world of Lallor. He had picked that one specifically because it had a team of super-heroes, one which had existed for decades.

The Heroes of Lallor were there to aid the planetary defense forces against the might of Darkseid. Vapor Woman (nee' Gas Girl), Duplicate Man, his wife Shrinking Violet, the Evolutionist, and Animatrix (formerly Life Lass), plus the next-generation Replicator Kid, Timewarp, and Martial Master, stood before the Capital Palace. The rulers of Lallor had been evacuated the day before, but both heroes and enemies knew how symbolically important the Palace was.

"They say it's Darkseid's troops," muttered Quelu Ord, looking towards the skies. "Hoped we'd seen the last of them all those years ago."

Violet took his hand. "Seems as though you never see the last of Darkseid. Over a thousand years, and he still exists."

"Not much longer if we can help it, Dad," said Replicator, smacking his palms together. "I'm itchin' to reach behind his back, grab one of his arms, and bust it."

Evolutionist, in his current-norm human mode, said, "You've never faced him, boy. We have. It took the Legion, ourselves, and almost every super-hero in the galaxy to beat him back then. Now..."

"Now we have something more to show him," said Martial Master. "Three of us he has never faced. If they can even get through our defenses."

Animatrix, who had the best hearing of the lot, jerked her head towards a certain point of the sky. The others, seeing it, looked in that direction.

A nanosecond later, the BOOM of a warp-device being opened was easily heard by all.

"Don't think it's a question of 'if' anymore," said Timewarp.

The weaponry of the Lallorian Defense Corps opened up on the enemy, and was blasted back in return. All was ignited within ten seconds. Duplicate Man gripped his Legion-model flight ring. "Let them hear it, crew. For Lallor!"

"FOR LALLOR!" the others chorused, and followed their leader into the skies.

Then all of them slammed hard into a barrier of nothingness and found themselves rebounding towards the ground. They didn't make it there, quite, thanks to the power of their Flight Rings. But by the time some of them recovered, a few seconds later, they found themselves face-to-face in the sky with the vanguard of the invasion force.

Tlhe vanguard was a blonde male youth, about six feet in height, almost impossibly handsome and clad in a purple and black skintight outfit. His eyes gave off the invitation of a burning pit.

"My name is Nemesis," he said. "Hope I don't disappoint you."

Duplicate Man, the strongest of them all, took point. He hurled himself at the enemy, hands outstretched, activating his power to adapt and take on the powers of an attacker. This alone made him just about the strongest hero in their universe, when he had to be.

Nemesis grabbed his left hand, grinned, and pressured it hard, sending a burst of mystic energy through it.

Ord Quelu screamed in pain, despite himself. He added the strength of a Kryptonian, tried to take on the power of an impossibly powerful mage.

But it wasn't enough.

Just as Duplicator reached the two of them, Duplicate Man's head exploded. It showered his son's body in a terrible moment of gore.

"Ohhhh, god," howled Duplicator, even as he waded in, smashing at Nemesis with Krypt-power and heat-vision, ignoring (if he could) the sight of his father's remains. "Ohhh, GODDD..."

Nemesis drew back a fist and punched it through his chest.

Shrinking Violet's mouth was open and her vocal muscles made all the actions necessary for a scream. No sound came out.

Her lips parted in half-snarl, half-nausea, Vapor Woman transformed herself into the deadliest vapor known to Man and wrapped herself about Nemesis's head. He plucked her away with one hand (after pushing Duplicator's body off his other fist and letting it fall to the ground), made that hand glow, solidified her into a crystalline form, and shattered it like so much glass.

The others attacked en masse. Martial Master, crying his deadly kiiai yell, struck with blows that could have sundered boulders. Violet shrank to the size of a microbe and flew into his ear, seeking to get at his brain and destroy it. The Evolutionist devolved into his most powerful cro-Magnon form and sought to crush the foe. Animatrix caused the very soil and rocks to fly into the air and batter Nemesis, including cold iron, which she hoped would undo his magic. Timewarp tried to warp away the enemy's power with the chronal energies at his disposal.

Martial Master was dismembered. Violet, fried by energy within the adversary's head, dropped llimply to the ground and enlarged, lifeless, to her normal height. Nemesis tossed the Evolutionist caveman into the path of Timewarp's blast and saw him ripped apart. Seconds later, the spawn of Mordru scattered Timewarp's atoms across a thousand centuries. Then he parted the hail of soil and stone and stood before Animatrix. She lifted her hands.

Focusing her power in reverse, she sought to suck the life out of Nemesis's body.

He stood impassive for a few seconds, blood dripping from his arm. "Nice try," he said.

Then he pointed his hand and consumed her in a blast of fire.

She fell backwards, landing not far from Violet. He wiped the ashes from his arm and then, turning, regarded the Palace.

With a burst of energy from his palm, he blew it up.

Looking upon the burning building, he nodded his head, briefly. Then he spoke into a throat-mike. "Send the rest in," he said. "It'll be easier now."

As the sounds of Boom Tubes opening began to fill the air, Nemesis walked towards the wreckage to check his work. He did not bother to look behind him.

Perhaps he would have seen what happened, and stopped it. Perhaps he would not.

Animatrix, willing her life-power to its last notch, inched...more likely, micrometered...her way towards the body of Violet. Her blood spattered the ground beneath her which, a few moments before, had been her animate ally. Now, the only thing that mattered was to breach one short gap. If she could live long enough to do it.

With one last effort, her hand fell across the upward palm of Salu Digby. Life-forced passed from her body to Violet's. All she had, save for one final spark.

Violet began to stir. Pain filled her being. But...she lived.

The first thing she knew was a whispering voice.

"Violet," said the voice. "Shrink. Escape. Contact the Legion. Tell them..."

There was no more.

When the invasion force landed, they found seven bodies before the Capital Palace. The burial squad dealt roughly but efficiently with them, and with those which were inside the Palace. Nemesis didn't worry about keeping count.

He had other things to do.

-S-

The redheaded man looked up. "How did you find me?"

"Should I answer that question?"

For a long moment, the man looked at the interloper, who was dressed mostly in black, dark blue, and white, with a medallion about his neck and a hat which shaded his eyes. "No. I suppose I can figure it out. What do you want?"

"Your aid in the current matter," said the Stranger.

The man set another log on end upon the stump before him, swung his axe back, and then brought it down in a stroke. The log split in half, perfectly. "No," he said.

"The stakes are too great to disregard," the Stranger said. "Even you can agree to that."

"I can. But I won't." The redhead mopped his brow with one red-sleeved arm. "Go away, Stranger. Mortals are more efficient at my job than I myself am, now."

"But are they as efficient at holding themselves back from such impulses?"

"Warn you, Stranger. I might even be able to work against you, if I wanted."

The dark clad man stood there, waiting.

"Besides, what could be more than the Crisis, these thousand years hence?"

The dark man still stood there.

Sighing, the other plunked the axe head first in the dirt between his feet. "What the hell is it you want?"

"There are champions I have aided, some years before, in a matter not unlike this. Now, I need even more aid than before. Should the forces of Darkseid prevail, even your kind may not be immune."

"Darkseid." The redheaded man looked up. "Again?"

"Again," the Stranger acknowledged. "But this must be the last time. For good, or for ill."

It took a good ten seconds for the man to give his answer.

"Then let's be going," said Destruction.

And they were.

-S-

The Fatal Five had, somehow, survived their heyday as opponents to the Legion and a long stay on Takron-Galtos. But, once again, they were ready to roll, and they were rolling on Earth.

Without much encouragement, Tharok, Emerald Empress, Mano, Validus, and the Persuader had warped into Metropolis and torn the hell out of Legion Headquarters. The safeguard devices there had done their best, but the powers of the Five...particularly the Empress's green shield, Validus's unbelievable strength, Mano's disintegrating palm, and the Persuader's Atomic Axe...had destroyed them all. Nobody living was in the buildings, and that was just as well. The Science Police ordered evacuation of that part of the city, and nobody had to tell the populance twice.

Finally, the Five stood amidst the rubble. Tharok was busily encoding what computer information he could salvage from the Legion's data banks into his own half-mechanized brain. Mano, sitting in what was left of the Legion Leader's chair, put the protective glove back on his deadly hand.

"Okay," he said. "What's next?"

"What's next?" said the Persuader, mockingly, chopping the remainder of a statue of Superboy to shards. "Sometimes you irritate me, kid, you really get down my chain mail."

"Be more than happy to," said Mano, meaningfully.

The Empress's floating green orb glowed. "Am I going to have to punish you naughty little boys? I'd be more than happy to do that."

With his human hand, Tharok gestured towards them. Validus, towering three times as tall as a man, his great brain-globed head sputtering static electricity, walked towards the other three with steps that sent shockwaves through the ground. He stood among the Persuader, the Empress, and Mano. All three of them subsided.

"I believe the directive was to take over the Earth and wait for reinforcement troops," said Tharok. "With our own embellishments, that is what I intend for us to do."

There was a BOOM of air being displaced, and all of them turned to look in the direction it came from.

It was pretty much redundant, as a flying wedge of three humanoid forms rocketed out at them more quickly than almost anyone could perceive. They were followed by a fourth one, who emerged just as the circular warp which they had passed through faded out.

The wedge of three superhumans struck Validus, as one, right at the point of his chin.

And Validus went down, right on his ass. True, his great, three-toed feet pulled up ferroconcrete with him, when he went over. But he had been knocked flat on his ass.

The three segments of the blur broke up into their individual segments. One of them headed at Emerald Empress, who, snarling, pointed at her attacker. The Emerald Eye of Ekron blasted forth a ray that could have devastated a tenth of a planet.

Either the newcomer dodged it, withstood it, or disregarded it. Whatever the case, a fistful of knuckles contacted the Empress's jaw and sent her to dreamland for no less than 28 hours. The Eye, not knowing what to do, hovered over her and waited.

Two of the others, one in blue and one in red, grabbed Validus by an arm apiece before he could recover. Then both of them, capes flying, launched themselves into the sky and took their huge foe with them. Validus had no power of flight or super-speed, but his strength was greater than both of theirs, and he was trying to exert it.

They didn't give him time.

With an overhand whip-throw, both of them threw Validus into the sky. A few seconds after that, he cleared Earth's atmosphere. He didn't stop going for a very, very long time. The United Planets tracking devices recorded his flight. They wouldn't have done anything about it, even if they could.

Validus didn't exactly stop...after losing the drag of air-friction, he was still traveling forward at an incredible rate of speed, with nothing to impede his progress...but it didn't make any difference. The trajectory he was on wouldn't give him much of any solid matter to bang up against, or push against, or in any way enable him to get back to Earth, provided he could have found it in the first place.

As long as nobody else intersected his path, the U.P. were happy to stay back, track his progress, and warn everybody out of his way.

Back on Earth, the Persuader, helmeted, armored, and axed, advanced on the other male figure among the enemy. The guy wasn't wearing a cape, and he seemed to have some stupid three-colored uniform. Well, who the hell cared? The armored man raised his axe and brought it down towards the man's head.

Problem was, the man grabbed his left arm in just one hand and halted its motion. And, despite the Persuader's best efforts, he couldn't budge his axe.

"Young feller, you might want to reconsider your actions," warned the other, staring out at him with clear blue eyes. "It takes more 'n brute force to get past some problems."

Actually, the Persuader didn't feel like trading quips with the man. He pulled the axe backwards with the man still hanging on and tried to bring it down again. But the man planted his feet against the Persuader's chest, and, with an effort, flipped him rear-over-teakettle onto the dirt.

That was enough to really make the Fiver mad.

He charged forward, screaming a battle cry. This time, he got tripped, and plowed up dirt and concrete when he fell face forward.

There had been more than a few better days in his life.

The three-colored man grabbed the axe handle above where the Persuader was holding it in one hand and, with a bit of strain, snapped it off below the blade. The Persuader groaned. "Kill you for that," he muttered.

"Don't think so," the man replied.

"He won't have to," said Mano, charging forward, hand-first. "I will!"

The man gave him a hard look. Then he threw the axe-blade, in a whirling motion, sending it spinning just where he wanted it.

Mano screamed.

He had a right to. His harmless hand clutched the stump of his other one, which was spurting blood at an incredible rate. The Axe, covered with more of it, was lying on the ground, beside the palm-up hand that, a second ago, had been connected to Mano.

"Hold on there, young man," said his foe, and picked up the blade. Then, grabbing Mano in a grip that would have taken Validus to break, he pressed the energy-bearing flat of the axe-head against Mano's stump. The helmeted Mano screamed harder. A smell of burning flesh filled the air.

When the man let Mano go sprawling to the dirt, the stump had been cauterized. The dark gas that filled Mano's helmet obscured his features. The only way you could tell he was crying was by listening to his sobs.

"Sorry, son," said the man, "but it was the only way."

Tharok looked at the scene, did some instant calculations of probability, and figured out the best plan of attack. He rushed in with half-robot speed and bent to grab Mano's disconnected hand, intending to throw it palm-first against the man's face. With his computer accuracy, he could have managed it.

But at the point of contact, he was intercepted by the two figures who had hefted Validus into outer space. One of them grabbed his human half. The other grabbed his robotic half, and, careful to leave the life-sustaining parts of it intact, tore it to smithereens.

Tharok did not suffer. At least, not physically. Since he was now lacking one leg, he was grateful in a way that one of his foes was holding him up by one wrist.

"Who," he said, "who are you? Identify yourselves?"

The two men, joined now by their female partner, looked at each other and shrugged. The one in red said, simply, "Captain Marvel."

"I'm Captain Marvel, Minor," said the blue-clad one.

"And Lady Marvel is my name," said the woman. "Don't worry, we've never been to this Earth before."

"Neither have I," said the one who'd taken down the Persuader and Mano, walking up to join the others. "But I do believe we got here at just the right time. That is, time to teach these reprobates a good lesson."

"Then...who are you?" said Tharok, trying to run an identification on him through his data files, and failing.

The man in the red, white, and blue costume looked at him steadily.

"I tend to be where I'm needed the most," he said. "You can call me Uncle Samm."

To be continued...


	5. Chapter 5

Supergirl:

Hellspawn

Part 5

by Darkmark

The Legion and League warped into the Earth-One universe upon a field on a world that was, certainly, not Earth-One. It was Zarox, the Sorcerors' World. Mordru himself had come from this planet, as had Circe and a number of other famed magicians. The structures of a nearby city, visible on the horizon, were telling. They were emblazoned with the magical symbols of many cultures, both Terran and non-Terran, or were fashioned after such symbols themselves.

"Zarox," said Brainiac 5. "Makes sense."

"Is it just me," said Kara, "or do the rest of you Krypts feel a power drop, too?"

"Acknowledged," said Superman. "Felt it the first time."

"Me, too," added Powerman. "Us Thoronites have the magic weakness, too."

"That goes for us Daxamites as well," said Mon-El. "But we still have a large degree of power. The background magic is just enough to impair us. It'd take a real attack to depower us."

"Well, maybe you," said Ultra Man. "I don't have that problem. Been running through my powers and they check out all right. What's next?"

"Thisiswherewefoughttheenemy," said Johnny Flash. "Sorceresswasstruckdown."

Shiela Thirteen sat crosslegged for a moment on the ground, both hands to her temples. Then she looked up and said, "I can sense Sorceress in yonder city. But I can't get a presence reading on our enemy."

"Maybe he's the hit and run type," said Dev-Em. "Where's your girl?"

Thirteen pointed at one of the taller buildings in the city, one that bore the look of a sign Supergirl thought like one she'd seen on an old Dutch barn.

"Well, let's go," said Kara, and took a leap that propelled her into flight. Dev caught up to her and flew beside her. In a second, they were joined by the Earth-Two Superman. He turned his head to give her a tight smile. She kept her expression neutral. Without saying a word, the three of them turned their X-ray vision on the building. Their vision powers were useless. Magic, she thought, not lead. The other Legionnaires and Leaguers were behind the three of them.

When they got closer to the structure, she drew in a great breath of air, and WHOOSHed it out straight at the building. It held longer than it might have been expected to, if it hadn't been protected by magic. But that only saved it for a second or two more.

Actually, it only blew away the outer walls, which were more or less coverage. They flew away like strips of a cardboard box, dancing into the fields around them. What was exposed by their removal was strange enough to cause all the heroes to pull up at a safe distance.

There was a solid obelisk of black substance, which had filled everything within the now-fallen walls.

"Okay," said Element Man. "Fan out around it. Don't touch it yet."

Nobody had to be told that.

The heroes tended to group with the ones they knew best. The Legion stood together: Supergirl, Dev-Em, Mon-El, Laurel Kent, Brainiac 5, Rond Vidar, Cosmic Man, Magnetic Man, Night Woman, Shadow Lady, Star Man, Lightning Man, Lightning Lady, Saturn Woman, Element Man, and Timber Wolf. Of the League, the one who stood closest to Kara was Superman. Then came Powerman, Ultra Man, Shiela Thirteen, Johnny Flash, Atomic Ace, Kid Chameleon, Amazon Queen, Green Lantern, and Titan Girl.

"Finesse or force first?" said Superman to Brainiac 5, not taking his eyes or X-ray vision off the thing. The latter didn't help against the magic screening.

"Try finesse," said Brainy. "Saturn, Titan, see if you can penetrate that thing. Who's best to guard them, Kal?"

"Lantern, Shiela," said Superman. "Give them shielding. Especially in the mind."

Kara felt a bit of pride at her other-Earth almost-relative's power of command. Saturn Woman and Titan Girl stepped to the fore and separated to mentally probe the obelisk from different angles, keeping their own telepathic link steady for communication. Shiela went to Saturn Woman's side, closed her eyes, extended her arms, and chanted. Green Lantern stood beside Titan Girl and lifted his ring hand, sending forth a brilliant green light that surrounded her. The heroes were at work.

"Boys, be on guard," Kara said to those around her. "My suspicion is on plus twelve."

"Mine's way past that, Kara," muttered Laurel.

Then the obelisk came alive.

It split into what seemed like a hundred angry black blotches, which formed arms and heads and stretched out at them and flowed at them like elements of an unknown nightmare, all whipping at them with the speed of cobras.

Supergirl didn't need a second to recognize them.

"Shadow-demons! Guys, hit them! NOW!"

At that point, there was quite a bit of hitting done by both sides. Battle was engaged.

The Kryptonian / Daxamite / Talokian contingent leaped to the attack with fists outstretched. They met the shadows in the skies. But Superman, Dev-Em, Mon-El, Laurel, Powerman, and Ultra Man didn't understand yet what Kara knew from experience: punching the shadow-demons was, for the most part, like hitting water. So, when the beings with the might to splinter a planet smashed away at the humanoid, stretching shadows, they found their foemen splattering away and reforming for a second strike.

And their touch was cold enough to freeze a Krypt, easily.

Supergirl attacked the demons with a furious spinning motion, which served to fling away the ones she contacted like victims of a waterspout. She yelled out while she was moving: "Listen! Don't bother hitting them! They can't be hurt like that! They're not material like us! Scatter their matter! Break them apart!"

Powerman, who'd pulled his freezing wrist out of the blackened gunk-shape of one demon, said, "Better idea than I've had, so far." He took off his white cape, whipped it between two hands, and flew at his opponent with super-speed and grim intent. Instants later, he tied up a bulging global mass within it.

Unfortunately, it began to ooze out between the openings.

"Power Guy! Down here!" called out Star Man. The Thoronite shrugged and pitched his capeload towards the bearded Legionnaire. The latter held both hands up and trained his power on it. He induced the mass of neutronium from collapsed stars directly into it, and hoped Powerman wasn't too fond of the cape. The entire package became flat and sunk into the ground, and kept sinking. Which was just the way Star Man wanted it.

Cosmic Man and Magnetic Man shielded themselves with fields of magnetic force so strong they were almost visible. At the same time, they held their hands aloft, like all those who needed to direct their powers thusly, and tried to grab the furtive shadows. Those they did snatch were pulled into strong and conflicting attractive / repulsive currents. The shadows within were turned into flinders.

Those flinders would eventually reform, but they were stopped for the moment.

The Atomic Ace blasted away at his enemies with twin hand-cannons of pure nuclear force, controlled enough not to contaminate the surroundings, but powerful enough to blast away the shadows who dared cross his sights. He dissolved scores of the enemy, and if they managed to reform after that, they avoided him.

Mon-El tried a new tactic, flying through them while vibrating at a pitch that almost sent him into another Earth-space. It seemed to do the trick, shattering the demons like glass broken by a tuning fork's vibes. He still felt the cold when he went through them, and wondered how long he could stand it.

Shadow Lady was used to providing Night Woman with a cover of darkness that enabled her to use her night-activated powers, and she did so now. But when Lydda Jath flew into the mass of one shadow-demon, something unexpected happened. As Tasmia Malor looked on, her fellow heroine was swallowed up by it like a pebble thrown into a glob of tar. Then...

...well, said glob seemed to expand like a balloon until it burst.

Night Woman appeared at its center point, eyes blazing. Shadow Lady's jaw dropped a bit. Lydda's biceps and thigh muscles bulged beyond what passed for normal. She seemed supercharged, with a facial expression like that of a hungry tiger.

"I want another meal of that!" she shouted, and jumped into another shadow, which suffered approximately the same fate.

Laurel and Ultra Man, in cooperation, had devised a maneuver of their own: after turning on her hour of power, she flew into the air, holding him by the ankles, and used Ultra as a human fan against their foes. It meant the Leaguer took all the cold, but it seemed to work. He switched his powers to 100% invulnerability for the duration.

Johnny Flash whirled like a top, sucked shadows into the resulting funnel, and tore them to pieces. Lightning Man and Lightning Lady blasted away with electrical bolts that shattered the demons, but could not stop their reformation. Saturn Woman and Titan Girl tried bolts of mind-force against their foes, with varying effect. Element Man tried encasing the creatures in lead, but they passed through the metal unharmed.

Green Lantern blazed away with his power ring, handed down from Alan Scott through generations of Lanterns, and was imprisoning the shadows within a cube of green. Brainiac 5 took notice. "Lantern, Shiela, listen up," he shouted. "Cage those things up. Magic's the only thing that'll do it!"

The man with the ring and the Earth-2 sorceress followed his advice. Shiela stretched forth her arms towards the floating Green Lantern and lent him her power. He passed it along through his green beam, which snatched away the shadows and held them pent within the green cube. Even the ones who had been shattered had their fragments grabbed and added to the mass. When it was done, a green, glowing cube approximately fifteen feet on a side remained, containing the entirety of the shadow-demons, floating over the ground. Green Lantern looked amiably at Brainiac 5. "Now what?"

"Orbital space," said Brainiac 5. "Close enough to track, far enough to get them out of our hair."

The Lantern lifted his fist and a beam shot forth from the ring. It propelled the green cube into the sky and, quickly, out of sight.

Kara turned in the direction of where the obelisk of shadow-demons had been. In its place, an altar stood, no more than three feet high from the base, with a woman lying atop it. She wore a dark blue skin-tight outfit, which went well, Kara thought, with her light blue skin and white hair. The woman was unmoving, probably unconscious. Maybe comatose.

Then a gleaming yellow lasso snaked out, impossibly long, encircled the woman's body like a rodeo lariat roping a calf, and dragged her off the altar through the air into the outstretched arms of Amazon Queen. Kara smiled, briefly, and flew to the Amazon's side.

"She's breathing," noted Kara.

"Aye," said the Queen. "But she might well be 'neath the influence of a spell."

Supergirl reached out her hand and touched Sorceress's limp arm. The tingle and the temporary power-drop she felt signified that Shiela, indeed, was imbued with some kind of magic. Whether from a spell, or just from Sorceress's own nature, Kara didn't know. Dev and Laurel landed beside her quickly, as did Superman. The others gathered quickly.

"I'll see if I can wake her up," said Saturn Queen.

"We'll see if we can wake her up," said Shiela, kneeling beside Sorceress and taking her hand.

The Green Lantern stood at Sorceress's head, with the two other women on either side of her, on their knees. Saturn Woman's hands went to her temples as she concentrated. Shiela went into a trance. The Lantern bathed the fallen heroine in his green beam. Kara watched silently, as did the others. Dev gently held her by the upper arms, from behind.

Within a minute, Sorceress's eyes fluttered.

"Whew," she sighed. "Am I...uh...can somebody introduce me?"

Amazon Queen smiled. "Joyed to have you back, Sorceress."

Superman said, "Double from me, Sara. But what have you got for us? Did you...see anything in there?"

The blue woman nodded, gravely, sitting up on the stone. "A face like basalt. Grey, forbidding. Red eyes. Beside him...a being of great power. Magical, and yet...beyond that. I wish I knew more I could tell you. But...so far, just impressions."

"Darkseid," said Kara. "And Satan Girl's son."

Sorceress looked at her. "Are you related to Kal? Could you be Power Girl?"

"Kind of , for the first question, and not really, for the second," said Superman. "Let's get out of here and fill you in on the way."

-s-

"So this guy is your version of the Evershadow?" said Powerman.

"Whoever that is," mumbled Dev-Em.

"Be glad you never met him," said Green Lantern. "Question is: when do we climb out of our little bunny holes and fight him?"

"Easy to talk about it, Lantern," said Kara. "Dev and I were in two other battles against Darkseid. One of them was with every super-hero on five Earths on our side. And he darned near won."

"The longer we wait, though, the stronger he gets," Laurel Kent said, holding hands with Brainiac 5 as they sat around the meeting table. "You may not be in on a lot of our cases, Kara, but you're sure here for the hard ones."

Element Lad stood up. "We've been running passive for too long, though. Both of us, Legion and League, we've been brought together for a reason. It takes a force like ours to counter a force like Darkseid's. And...I shouldn't have to remind you all, but I will...we're not just fighting for ourselves. We represent the freedom of all worlds, all people, in this. Not just the United Planets or the Galactic Union, but everyone, in whatever status they live. This time, we can't afford to let Darkseid go. Whatever else we do...we have to put him down. Once, and forever."

"Assuming he doesn't do the same to us," muttered Timber Wolf.

"That kind of attitude's uncalled for, Brin," said Shadow Lass, sitting very close to Mon-El and glaring across the table at the Wolf.

"You've got me wrong, Tas, but that's consistent with you," Timber Wolf said. "I'm the least defeatist guy you've got on both teams."

"I doubt that," said Powerman.

"Hell, I want to get at Darky and twist his head around a couple of times before I pop it off," the Wolf continued. "But this guy runs a helluva campaign. He knows military tactics and action better than the Dark Circle. We might outpower him, or even his brat-kid. But we've got to outthink him, outmaneuver him, too. Or we're dead. Really dead."

"I know all about that," said Lightning Man. "It's boring."

Supergirl shook her head. "You brought Dev and I here because you thought we could help you straighten this thing out. But I don't have a clue. I fought Darkseid one-on-one back in the 20th and he almost killed me."

Element Man said, "But he didn't. That's the important thing."

"He didn't because Orion showed up and Astro-Forced him. Anyone of us got that around?"

Another voice said, "Not at present. But we may be able to find it."

The heroes turned to look at the source of the voice. The speaker, and one other, were standing before the entrance to the room. The door behind them was closed, and no one, even with super-hearing, had heard it open and shut again.

Supergirl said, "The Stranger."

Some of the heroes were on their feet. The Atomic Ace launched himself at the intruders, a trail of glowing sparks in his wake, fists out front as he flew. He got within a foot of the red-headed man beside the Stranger, seemed to hit something, and crumpled to the floor.

Kara was on her feet. "Wait, everyone! Stand down. I know one of these guys, and so do the Legionnaires. He helped us fight Mordru and, and Satan Girl."

"She's right," said Shadow Woman. "I remember him. He's a friend."

"I hope that I am, also," said the redhead. "Your tension is understandable, but do not regard everyone you see, even in this circumstance, as an enemy."

Dev-Em said, "We know the Stranger. But who, mate, are you?"

The man did not answer.

The Stranger, stepping forward, said, "He has many names. As one of the Endless, there is no end to what he might be called. But, in your culture, he would be known as...Destruction."

A long pause. Then Cosmic Man said, "Not exactly reassuring, if you know what I mean."

Destruction gave a warm smile. "I represent a necessity, a phase of change, the crumbling of one that another may arise. But in this case, I may stand with you."

Element Lad said, "We're going to need all the help we can get. Welcome to our world."

The Stranger said, "I have rarely been absent from it."

Ultra Man said, "Somebody fill us in on these two. And then tell us about this Astro-Force thing, okay?"

Kara stood beside the newcomers and faced the group. "Well, since I worked with the Stranger in the 20th, I'll see if I can give you some information. I can't say I know that much about him, and I don't know anyone who does. But...he does seem to have mystic powers, he does know a lot about other realms, and he does seem to pop up when he's most needed. And he used to be a member of the Justice League. For you Leaguers, that's the 20th's counterpart to the Justice Society."

The Stranger said nothing. Sorceress arose and was the next to speak.

"If this is truly Destruction, we are honored. There are beings beyond even the lesser gods, ones who were created after the universe's birth and who, in some form, will endure till its death. Their names are known to those who study such things: Desire, Destiny, Dream, Death, Delirium who was once Delight, Despair, and this one...Destruction. You do us grace, sir, with your presence." She bowed before the man.

Green Lantern, ring glowing on his hand, said, "I've scanned these guys and gotten practically nothing. I hope they're what you say."

"Uh, would somebody mind helping me up?" muttered the Atomic Ace.

Destruction, smiling, bent down and lifted the Ace to his feet. The Leaguer dusted himself off. "How'd you do that?"

Destruction said nothing.

Element Lad said, "We'll make a place for you both at the table. And if you could tell us about this Astro-Force, we'll be more than grateful."

"This will involve a journey of great peril," the Stranger said, "to a place none of you, even Kara Zor-El, has been before."

"In other words," sighed Dev, "business as usual."

"Dev!" said Kara.

Before more could be said, the voice of Computo overrode them from a hidden speaker. "Attention. Authorized person has arrived in WarPort. Identification: Salu Digby. Code name: Shrinking Violet."

Many of the eyes of the Legionnaires went wide at that. Violet hadn't been on Earth for years. The troop quickly went forth to the room in which the WarPort, the Legion's teleportation device, was housed. It was a clear, cylindrical structure, anchored at top and bottom by housings which enabled matter transmission from one point of the universe to another.

The door of the WarPort was open. But Violet was sitting on its floor, her head covered by her arms, her shoulders shaking. No matter how Kara sped up, Johnny Flash was the first to reach her, and lift her gently from the tube, helping her to stand. Violet's face was streaked with tears.

"Vi," said Kara. "What-"

"My husband," she sobbed. "He killed my husband."

There was a long silence. Then Dev-Em turned towards Destruction and the Stranger.

"Tell us how to kill this guy," he said.

To be continued…


End file.
